Sasadi



J. S'ASADI BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER Sept. 24, 1963 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 21, 1961 EOFOE PQOI 250% m2; we

INVENTOR. L/OHN SASAD/ 11 r ATTORNEY.

Sept. 24, 1963 Filed March '21,, 1961 FIG.

J. SASADI BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER 7 sheets sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JOHN sAsAo/ BY f I ATTRNEY.

Se t. 24, 1963 V J. SASADl 3,104,766

BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER Filed March 21, 1961 7 She ets-Sheet s FIG.

FIG. 4

INV EN TOR.

dOl-IN SASA DI 1 v ATTORNEY.

Sept. 24, 1963 J. SASADI 3, 04,755

BUCKET, WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER Filed March 21, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 A 0!, 25 o H 2 30 22a 2 3| 32 260. J L '/4j d 27b and I INVENTOR. d0 HN 645A 0/ ATTORNEY.

Sept. 24, 1963 J. SASADI BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 21, 1961 INVENTOR. dOHN SASA 0/ BY NEY.

Sept. 24, 1963 J. SASADI BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 21, 1961 IN VEN TOR.

JOHN 5245A DI AT TO R N E Y.

Filed March 21, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 FIG.

INVENTOR. JOHN 5A5AD/ ATTORNEY.

United States 3,104,766 BUCKET WHEEL BARGE UNLOADER John Sasadi, Newark, N ..l., assignor to Hewitt-Robins Incorporated, Stamford, Conn. Filed Mar. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 97,185 8 Claims. (Cl. 214-14) by tag winches. When the barge is pulled far enough into the unloading station, so that a guide or vise can position it, barge haul engines or the associated ropes, are connected fore and aft to the barge to regulate the passing speed of the barge during the unloading operation. The positioning and guiding vise will be moveable in a vertical plane to accommodate high and low water conditions. Each barge is unloaded in a minimum of two passes relative to a bucket wheel unloader moveable in a vertical plane and a plane transverse of the beam of the barge. The bucket wheel is however fixed relative to the barge in the horizontal plane and thus the barge moves relative to the bucket wheel during an unloading pass. During the initial unloading pass the bucket wheel will be held in its central position so that material will be removed in the plane of the barge keel. During-the second and/ or final cut the transverse drive of the bucket wheel unloader can be utilized to remove material across the beam of the barge hold and suitable limit switches adjacent the bucket Wheel are provided to automatically limit the range of movement of the wheel depending on the particular barge hold width and length.

One or more bucket wheels may be used in the unloading station and different bucket wheels for dififerent materials may be readily removed from and mounted within the station.

veyor which also automatically adjusts to compensate for water variations while maintaining a material receiving position relative to the axial conveyor.

A shuttle or axial conveyor capable of extending from the bridge to an outboard barge is contemplated so that a atent O ice Another object of the invention is to provide a rotary bucket wheel barge unloader in which the bucket wheel is moveable in a vertical plane relative to a barge as well as in a horizontal plane transverse of the barge beam and barge in the unloading station can be discharged to an ad- 3 jacent outboard barge. The shuttle conveyor will be located in the bridge upon which the bucket wheel and associated carriage are mounted for vertical movement. Also the shuttle conveyor can be progressively shuttled to trim the outboard or receiving barge. When material is unloaded ashore the shuttle conveyor is locked relative to the bridge member and its direction of operation reversed to discharge material from the bucket wheel to a dockside conveyor which is pivotally mounted at dockside and also pivotally or swingably positioned relative to the shuttle or bridge conveyor to receive material therefrom.

Therefore the primary object of the invention is to pro vide an improved barge unloading and material handling system.

Another object of the invention is .to provide a barge unloader utilizing a rotary bucket wheel.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rotary bucket wheel barge unloader of high capacity which is comparatively economical to install and maintain relative to presently known barge unloading installations.

in which the bucket wheel is continuous in operation while traversing the barge beam.

The advantages of the invention over known barge unloader systems resides in a comparative low initial cost as well as a like low operating and maintenance cost. These advantages are coupled with a relatively great increase in loading and/ or unloading capacity.

The above and additional objects and advantages will be apparent, together with additional features and advantages from the following detailed description of the invention of which presently preferred embodiments are illustrated in the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an arrangement for positioning and controllably feeding a barge through an unloading station housing .a rotary bucket unloader;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of an unloading station according to one embodiment of the invention looking in V the direction from which the barges enter the station;

FIG. 3 is a detail plan view taken generally along line 33 of FIG. 2 showing .a vise arrangement for guiding the barges while being unloaded;

FIG. 4 is a top view of an unloading station as seen in FIG. 2 illustrating an arrangement for elevating the rotary bucket wheel and associated equipment;

FIG. 5 is a detailed side elevation of a bucket wheel according to the invention illustrating a novel, economic drive arrangement for the wheel;

FIG. 6 is a detailed side elevational view of an arrangement for shuttling the bucket wheel conveyor to allow unloading one barge into an adjacent outboard barge;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of another embodiment of the system according to the invention which is particularly adapted for unloading barges where the water variations are periodically or seasonally very large;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of still another embodiment of the invention in which a plurality of bucket wheel unloader's are utilized;

FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 9;

FIG. '11 is a schematic view of the electric circuit and an arrangement of elements for automatically controlling the operating limits of the bucket wheel.

As seen in FIG. 1 a plurality of barge haul and tag winches A, B, C, are arranged to position and move a barge I10 through an unloading station 4. The rate of movement of the barge 10 through the unloading station and relative to the bucket wheel unloader 20 being thus positively controlled firom a remote location in any suitable known manner. The rotary bucket wheel 20 is mounted for vertical movement on a cross bridge 30 hereinafter more fully described in connection with FIGS. 2 and 5. The position of the wire ropes 11 which run over the drums of winches A, B, and C show that the winch A controls the velocity or rate of teed of the barge through the unloading station. The winches B and C control the direction of the barge to direct it into unloading station where a barge vise best seen in FIG. 3 guides the bargebeing unloaded to prevent damage to the barge and/or. the bucket wheel 20 should a barge become canted or disposed at an angle to the wheel as opposed to the'longitudinal axis of the barge being maintained the operation of winches A, B, and C and the associated wire rope 11 and suitably arranged sheaves 12.

An end elevational view at the unloading station is shown in FIG. 2. The raised (and stowed) and lowered operative positions of the bucket wheel 20, rotatably supported by carriage member 31 which in turn is moveably supported on the cross bridge 30', are indicated by the solid and broken lines of this figure. The steel framework defining the unloading station supports a known elevating mechanism, a plan view of which is shown in FIG. 4, connected to the cross bridge 30. The bridge is guided by suitable roller means such as 30a associated with the steel columns of the framework and the cross bridge 30. Carriage 31 and bucket wheel 20, supported on cross bridge 36), are raised and lowered as a unit to follow Water level variations, barge draft variations during unloading, and to allow the barge to be brought into the unloading station without interference between barge coarnings and the bucket wheel or carriage. Also shown by the dotted lines are the positions of the bucket wheel relative to the beam or width of a barge, which incidentally, may vary from one barge to another. However, it will be apparent from the foregoing that barge size variations are readily accommodated by this system. The lateral or transverse positions of the bucket wheel are controlled by movement of the carriage 3-1 across the cross bridge 39. Movement of the carriage relative to the cross bridge-may be attained in any known manner.

A suitable bucket wheel and carriage arrangement as 7 well as the connection between the carriage and the bridge is disclosed in a copending application Serial Number 732,268, filed May 1, 1958, assigned to the same assignee and entitled Bucket Wheel Reclaimer to which reference may be had for details. A substantially identical arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 5.

Thus, as shown in FIGS. 2 and the carriage 31 is supported on trolley means 26, engaging rails 26a or other similar means secured to the longitudinal structural members at the top of the cross bridge 30. The carriage 31 and trolley 26 are driven back and forth across the bridge 30 by a drive means mounted on the carriage and connected to the trolley wheels, or as seen in FIG. 2 by a take-up winch 16 on both sides of the carriage. The wire rope associated with the take-up winches or drums 16 being anchored to the ends or the cross bridge in known manner. It will be apparent from FIG. 5 that the carriage 31 is moveably mounted, or connected, concentrically surrounding the bridge 30 and that the bucket wheel 20 is rotatably mounted on the carriage 3 1. Thus the bucket wheel and associated carriage are concentrically mounted on the bridge and rnoveable relative thereto at the various elevations of the bridge within the structural tower defining the unloading station.

An axial conveyor 32 is supported within the cross bridge 30 and suitable apparatus of known design and operation (not shown) are providing to continuously operate the conveyor 32 during rotation of the bucket wheel 20 driven by power means designated 21. Also conveyor 32 operates continuously while cross bridge 30 is lowered or raised and the carriage 31 moves relative thereto when unloading a barge .11 tothe dockside.

The conveyor 32 is, however, also operable as a shuttle conveyor, i.e. can be shifted relative to the bucket wheel so that a barge within the unloading station 4 can be loaded into an adjacent outboard barge hereinafter fully described in connection with FIG. 6.

Attached to the bridge 30 are a number of adjustable bumpers or fenders 33 and associated fixed fenders 33a comprising a vise (best seen in FIG. 3 and described in connection therewith) to guide the barge in a straight line through the unloading station. Counterbalances 34 are also provided tor the cross bridge, carriage and operative elements of the bucket wheel to facilitatemovement of the cross bridge 3d.

It will be apparent from H6. 2 that in dockside un- A loading the bucketwheel'discharges material onto'shuttle or axial conveyor 32 which carries this material to one end of the cross bridge and discharges this material onto a dockside conveyor 35 pivotally mounted at 36- and.pro vided with supporting brackets 37 pivotally attached to both conveyor 32 and 35, or other suitable arrangement, to allow relative arcuate displacement of the end of conveyor 35 adjacent conveyor 32 which therefore remains in receiving position with conveyor 32. The extreme operative positions of conveyor 32 and conveyor 35 are shown by the dotted line illustrations H in FIG. 2. It is noted that conveyor 3-2 may be shuttled to the left or right as seen in FIG. 2.

As seen in 'FIG. 2 a suitable chute may be provided between conveyors 32 and 35 which may be mounted on the bridge 30 or conveyor 3-2 in operative position relative to conveyor 35. The details of such an arrangement are not fully illustrated since any number of suitable 'ar rang-ements can be made by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 3 illustrates a vise supported by bridge 30 to position a barge within the unloading station. It will be.

seen from F168. 2 and 3 that the vise comprises a pair of roller fenders 33a fixed to a cross member 331) which can be elevated and lowered relative to the bridge member 36 to accommodate various barge drafts andto allow the bridge and bucket wheel to be raised and lowered relative to the tenders of the vise as unloading progrmses. On the other side of the station, orother end of the bridge 3%, a pair of roller fenders 33 mounted on hydraulically extended arms 40 on a cross member 330 likewise arranged to be elevated and lowered. It is also contemplated to utilize a barge vise (not illustrated) in V which four hydraulically operated arms each equipped with a pair of roller fenders are positioned on each side of the station on vertically movable carriages or cross members 33b and 33c such as illustrated at the left side in FIG. 3. Each carriage 33b and 330 for the vise is guided by rollers running in the same slot tracks as the bucket wheel bridge member. Each carriage may be elevated and lowered by hydraulic cylinders 38 attached to the bridge member 30. Each of the above described vise arrangements are required to hold the barge being unloaded in parallel alignment with the vertical plane of I the bucket wheel while at the same time allowing longitudinal movement of the barge relative to the bucket wheel. a vise which will accommodate barges of varying beams. The hydraulic cylinders 39 operating each arm in each of the above variations of the vise arrangement are mounted and controlled in any suitable known manner. The cylinders 38, 39 may be controlled electrically from a cab in the tower defining the unloading station or from an auxiliary panel at another location. These controls may be in series so that the first operator to actuate the Details of such cylinders maintains control thereover. electric and hydraulic controls are not illustrated as they are designed according to well known principles of engineering.

- A detailed view of the bucket wheel 20, cross bridge 30, and carriage 31 is shown in FIG. 5 together with a. novel chain drive arrangement to impart equal rotational A short loop forces to each side of the bucket wheel. of chain 22 runs over a drive sprocket 23 and an idler sprocket 24 provided on each side of the wheel 20. The

drive sprocket may be driven from a. single source of power or a pair of synchronized motors may drive each sprocket.

bolts, etc. By this arrangement the chain 22 is held in forced engagement with thegear wheel attached to the wheel 20 to place these parts in positive engagement.

tion. Further, since the chain is out of engagement with Also it is noted that both arrangements provide A conventional bull wheel or sprocket 22a'is fixed at each side of the bucket wheel 20 by welding or the bucket wheel over most of its periphery accumulation of dirt and wear resulting therefrom is minimized. The arrangement disclosed in the above identified copending application is also contemplated wherein a conventional chain drive is utilized in which a closed loop of chain surrounds approximately one half or more of the wheel circumference.

The material scooped up by the bucket wheel is deposited, via a hopper 25 located on the vertical axis of the wheel as is known, on conveyor 32 located substantially along the axis of the wheel 20. The material from conveyor 32. is transferred to the pivotal conveyor 35 best seen in FIG. 2. The axial conveyor 32 is supported in any suitable manner within the cross bridge 30. As seen by comparing FIGS. 2 and 5 the carriage 3'1 concentrically surrounds the cross bridge 30 and is movably mounted on bridge 30 in the usual manner by wheels or trolleys 26. The carriage 31 is equipped with a sensing device 27 which prevent the bucket wheel from damaging the barge bottom. When the sensing device is subject to an excess pressure the hoist for the bridge may automatically raise the bridge for a pre-set period of time. If the pressure is not relieved the operation of 'the bucket wheel is halted automatically until the bridge is raised sufficiently by the operator. An electric circuit arrangement such as illustrated and described in connection with FIG. 11 will control the above described operation. The sensing device may be manually or in any manner retractable to an inoperative position shown in phantom in FIG. 5 when the apparatus is not in use. The sensing device comprising a pivotal shoe member 27a connected with a pressure sensitive switch 27b of known design 27b. The switch 27b is in turn connected to power cells of FIG. 11.

FIG. 6, an enlarged View of the lower portion of FIG. 2, illustrates the arrangement whereby the bucket wheel conveyor 32 isconverted to a shutt le conveyor receiving material from the wheel 20 which can be discharged either to a dockside conveyor 35 or to an adjacent barge a as illustrated by the dotted lines of FIG. 7. The shuttle conveyor is mounted in bridge 30 in a manner suitable for the operation of shuttle conveyors in other known installations. When discharging material to a dockside conveyor the shuttle is locked in position and can be operated in only one direction of movement by any suitable switch means. When the shuttle is unlocked it will only operate in the other direction and the drive therefore can be controlled from the operator cab or auxiliary panel board. The extreme limits of the shuttie traverse will be controlled by suitable known limit and overtravel limit switches appropriately located for this purpose.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the barge unloading and material handling system according to this invention is of continuous operation during barge unloading and thus of very high capacity and/or of maximum efficiency. Also due to its continuous operation loading peaks are comparatively small whereby the structural steel and operating parts of the mechanism can be made more economical relative to a comparable known system of equal capacity. The operation of the system will also be obvious from the foregoing descrip tions illustrating one embodiment of the invention.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 which operates on essentially the same principle of continuous operation and contains essential ly the same or equivalent apparatus. However, as seen in FIG. 7 the unloading station is defined by a chantneled island and structural or tower member 50. This arrangement is preferred where large variations in water elevation is experienced periodically or seasonally.

The barges 10 are controllably fed through the unloading station by barge haul engine E and the elevation of the bucket wheel 20 is controlled by hoist engines 51. As above described, the bucket wheel is mounted on conveyor 54 in any known manner.

traversing carriage 31 which in turn is supported on the cross bridge 30 to which the hoist engines are connected in known manner (as best seen in FIG. 8).

Referring particularly to FIG. 8, the axial conveyor 32 in this embodiment delivers material from barge 10 to pivotal conveyor 40 mounted substantially at a angle to the conveyor 32 and pivoted about axis 41. The other end of conveyor 40 is supported by arm 42 pivotally attached to conveyor 40 and also pivotally connected to the bridge 30 in any suitable manner. By this arrangement, it will be apparent that the are 43 of one end of conveyor 40 can be very great without interfering with the continuous operation of the system or without special provision being made to allow space within the unloading station for the movements of the free or swinging end of conveyor 40.

A further embodiment of the invention along the lines of the last described embodiment is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The essential difference between the embodiment of FIGS. 9 and 10 and that of FIGS. 1-5 and 7, 8 is that a plurality of bucket wheels are used to unload a barge without provision for the bucket wheel to traverse the beam of the barge. This embodiment therefore offers the greatest unloading capacity per unit time without requiring a traversing carriage and associated apparatus upon which a single bucket wheel must be mounted.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 a barge 10 is fed through the unloading station 4 by barge haul engine E. The multiple and single bucket wheel unloaders, rotatably mounted on cross bridges 30, are raised and lowered within the steel towers 50 by suitable hoist engines 51 and associated wire rope and sheaves. As seen in FIG. 10, the single unloader is utilized essentially to remove the central crown of material from the barge and operates at a higher level than the triple wheel unloader. Each of the bucket wheels is driven by a power source as described above. The material from the single bucket wheel unloader is deposited on a bucket wheel conveyor 32 also as described hereinabove. Between the single wheel unloader and the multi-wheel unloader a linking conveyor 52 pivotally mounted at one end and swingably mounted at its receiving end as hereinbefore described. The linking conveyor discharges to a dockside The material discharged by both the single and multi-wheel unloaders and associated bucket wheel or axial conveyor 32 is thus deposited on the dockside conveyor 54 which, as also previously described hereinabove, is pivotal about the pivot 55 at one end and swingably mounted or attached to the bridge of the multi-wheel unloader at its other end.

In all of the previously described and illustrated arrangements of the invention the bucket wheel unloader is provided with suitable sensing mean-s to limit the transverse movement of the carriage to prevent the bucket wheel engaging the sides of the barge hold as well as to halt the barge haul engines and prevent the fore and aft portion of the barge hold from engaging the bucket wheel. An arrangement to prevent the bucket wheel from engaging the barge bottom has been illustrated and described but because the other movement limiting sensing means are varied and well known illustration and description thereof is considered unnecessary here.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic illustration of an electric circuit and associated apparatus the operation thereof being obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore for the sake of brevity the symbols used in FIG. 11 are defined as follows:

Stop-Push button to stop bridge hoist.

Hoist-Push button to raise bridge hoist.

Lower-Push button to lower bridge hoist.

Slack cableA slack cable limit switch of conventional operation and design to limit the lower position of the bridge hoist when the wheel is engaged with the barge material load.

Power =cell #1Is set to close the-contact ata minimum pressure.

Power cell #2 ls set to close the contact at a maximum or excess pressure.

F-Fuse.

H-Hoist control coil.

HLSUpper hoist limit switch.

L-Lower control coil.

LLSNormal lower unit switch.

TDE-Tirne delay protection against excessive time of prevailing presure of the shield or sensing device 27 illustrated and described in connection with FIG. 5.

Because of known engineering innovations of various features shown in the drawings only a brief description has been given above where conventional apparatus and arrangements can be utilized. More detailed descriptions have been given only with relation to those features considered to be presently unknown to those skilled in the art.

The operation of the system according to the invention will be obvious from the above description of the various views of the drawings which is given by Way of example and is not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims as various changes may be made by those skilled in the art by way of design variations and engineering innovations.

I claim:

1. A barge unloading system comprising a tower means having offshore and on shore members defining an unloading station, mean-s operatively associated said station for introducing and maneuvering :a barge Within said station, and unloader means comprising a bridge member movable vertically within said tower means, elevator means supported on said tower means for raising and lowering said bridge member, a first endless conveyor means supported on said bridge member, a carriage member concentrically surrounding and supported on said bridge member for movement longitudinally of said bridge member, means for moving said carriage member, a bucket Wheel unloader concentrically surrounding and rotatably supported on said carriage member, drive means operatively associated with said bucket wheel, barge engaging and guiding means depending drom said bridge member wtihin said station, means to raise and lower said barge engaging and guiding means, and -a second endless conveyor means operatively associated with said first conveyor means including pivotal bracket means connecting the adjacent ends of said first and second conveyor means.

2. A system according to claim 1 with the addition of a sensing means openatively associated with said elevator means to prevent said rotary bucket unloader coming into idirectcontact with saidbange i-nsaid unloading wheels and a'pair of associated chiain loops at each side of said urn-loader, each said chain loop operatively engaging one of a pair of sprocket means fixed at each side of said bucket Wheel, the axis of each said driven and idler sprockets defining a plane forming a chord of said sprocket means whereby said chain loops are held. in

positive engagement with the associated sprocket means. i 5. A system according to claim 1 wherein said axial conveyor is extensible to a shuttle position to load an adjacent barge.

6. A system according to claim 1 wherein said barge engaging means comprises a vise having at least one pair of rotary fender means engaging a barge at one side thereof and fender means at the opposite side of a barge within said station.

,7. A system according to claim 6 wherein said barge vise comprises a pair of hydraulically extensible fender means at one side of said barge and a of fixed tender means at the opposite side of said barge.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein said barge vise comprises means connecting said vise to said bridge means and means to raise and lower said vise relative zto said bridge means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Hewitt-Robins: News of Industry, vol. IV, No. 3, autumn 1959, pp. 12, 13. 

1. A BARGE UNLOADING SYSTEM COMPRISING A TOWER MEANS HAVING OFFSHORE AND ON SHORE MEMBERS DEFINING AN UNLOADING STATION, MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID STATION FOR INTRODUCING AND MANEUVERING A BARGE WITHIN SAID STATION, AND UNLOADER MEANS COMPRISING A BRIDGE MEMBER MOVABLE VERTICALLY WITHIN SAID TOWER MEANS, ELEVATOR MEANS SUPPORTED ON SAID TOWER MEANS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING SAID BRIDGE MEMBER, A FIRST ENDLESS CONVEYOR MEANS SUPPORTED ON SAID BRIDGE MEMBER, A CARRIAGE MEMBER CONCENTRICALLY SURROUNDING AND SUPPORTED ON SAID BRIDGE MEMBER FOR MOVEMENT LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID BRIDGE MEMBER, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID CARRIAGE MEMBER, A BUCKET WHEEL UNLOADER CONCENTRICALLY SURROUNDING AND ROTATABLY SUPPORTED ON SAID CARRIAGE MEMBER, DRIVE MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID BUCKET WHEEL, BARGE ENGAGING AND GUIDING MEANS DEPENDING FROM SAID BRIDGE MEMBER WITHIN SAID STATION, MEANS TO RAISE AND LOWER SAID BARGE ENGAGING AND GUIDING MEANS, AND A SECOND ENDLESS CONVEYOR MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS INCLUDING PIVOTAL BRACKET MEANS CONNECTING THE ADJACENT ENDS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONVEYOR MEANS. 